May 16, (THEWILL) – The Senate has ordered the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Commissioners, to refund to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, a total sum of N594 million vehicle allowances which they unable to account for.
The top management officials of the SEC were indicted in the 2018 report of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation consequent upon their failure to defend serious allegations raised against the them.
According to the report, ”In 2013, the Director -General , while serving as Executive Commissioner, was paid the sum of N39 million as monetised car allowances to run for four years, but two years, on his appointment as Director General, he was again paid the sum of N84 million as monetised car allowances.
“In 2015, the Commission procured four project vehicles to meet it’s need at the sum of N144 million, but instead of making use of the vehicles for purposes they were acquired, the Director General and Commissioners turned them to their sole uses, which contravened chapter 9 (1)&(11) of the Commission’s condition of service.
“Also, the sum of N469 million was further expended on the payment of the monetised motor vehicle insurance in 2015 and 2016.
“In the view of the foregoing, payment of N39 million in 2013 and N84 million in 2015, totalling N124 million to the Director-General were not proper and cannot be considered as proper charges against Public funds.”
While the Commission has failed to honour series of letters of invitations by the Senate to defend the allegations before its Public Accounts Committee chaired by Senator Mathew Uhroghide, the Senate, however, upheld report of its Committee which indicted the Commission.
The lawmakers recommended the position of the Auditor General for the Director-General to refund N124 million paid to him and recover the sum of N469 million expended on the payment of monetised motor vehicle allowances and motor insurance allowances from the beneficiaries and pay to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and forward the payment details to the Office of Auditor General.
